


Are You Hanging Up The Stockings On The Wall

by A_Tomb_With_A_View



Series: SonsetCurve’s holiday event 2020 [5]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: A little bit of angst, Again, F/M, Found Family Feels, Julie just wants to make everyone happy, M/M, Ray is not ready for the chaos of Carlos, he/they willie, reference to the good old catholic self loathing, the boys are emotionally smart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28139592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Tomb_With_A_View/pseuds/A_Tomb_With_A_View
Summary: Julie wasn’t sure exactly when hanging the stockings had become her favourite part of the Christmas season.Maybe it had been the year her dad decided they should make a whole meal of it; on the 18th of December - exactly a week before Christmas - they’d get the stockings and make hot chocolate and spend a day together as a family doing whatever they felt like, as long as it didn’t require changing out of their Christmas pyjamas.
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: SonsetCurve’s holiday event 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055348
Comments: 31
Kudos: 189





	Are You Hanging Up The Stockings On The Wall

**Author's Note:**

> Bonjour! This is for day five of [@sonsetcurve’s](https://sonsetcurve.tumblr.com/) Holiday event 2020, with the prompt being hot chocolate   
> Gonna be real, I forgot that and thought it was stockings and then thought I’d detailed a stockings prompt to talk about hot chocolate but it all worked out so   
> Also; there is reference to the good old catholic self hatred in here; my qualifications for talking that are that I’m a queer kid with a shit tonne of chronic health issues that was raised catholic so I’m sure you can imagine how that’s going, so I’m allowed to say that Catholicism can suck for ur mental health, although I have full respect and support for any practicing catholics, queer and mildly disabled or otherwise, it just didn’t work for me lol

Julie wasn’t sure exactly when hanging the stockings had become her favourite part of the Christmas season. 

Maybe it had been when she was a kid, and her mom had brought home a gorgeous pair of embroidered stockings; one blue with a sleigh and Reindeer and Julie at the top, one red with a nutcracker under a tree that said Carlos. 

Maybe it had been the year her dad decided they should make a whole meal of it; on the 18th of December - exactly a week before Christmas - they’d get the stockings and make hot chocolate and spend a day together as a family doing whatever they felt like, as long as it didn’t require changing out of their Christmas pyjamas. 

Maybe it had been their first Christmas after her mom had died, when she’d opened the box with the stockings in and seen her name in her mom’s handwriting stitched in gold thread on the top of the stocking, and been hit with a wave of memories so strong that her hot chocolate had tasted like the salt of tears, and the three of them hadn’t managed to do anything but sit around in their pyjamas and talk about her. 

She didn’t know what it was, but she did know that when the time finally came to share it with her boys, she was pretty fucking excited. 

Embroidery was a skill Julie had never quite managed to get the hand of. She’d learned to sew along with Carlos under her mom’s tutorage when they were little, their mom always insisting that knowing how to do things for themselves - cook, clean, repair clothes, light a fire - were just as important to independence as having things that made them  _ them _ \- but for some reason every time they’d moved past repairing a shirtsleeve or fixing up ripped trousers and onto writing her name in thread, or creating patterns and flowers, her brain shut down. No matter how many times she’d tried to get the hang of it, it just would not stick.

So, she had to outsource the stockings. 

Fortunately, Flynn was a master of most hands-based craft skills, and for a significant payment in brownies and the promise of more to come, she produced four stockings, one pink, one red, one blue, with each of the boys’ names and their respective ghost from the logo she’d designed stitched on neatly, and one grey-green with a little ghost with a skateboard embroidered under Willie. 

Luke, at least, reacted appropriately. 

“Aw, Julie-bean…” he beamed up at her, eyes glossy. “Are these… do they go with yours?” 

Julie nodded and let him pull her into a bone crushing hug. “‘Course. You’re family, and family get stockings on the mantelpiece.” 

He kissed her temple. “By the way,” he whispered, lips close to her ear. “Don’t push Reg and ‘Lex on this one too much.” 

For a moment, she didn’t have a clue what that meant, but when she finally nudged Luke until he released her and turned to face her boys, it made a little more sense.

Reggie was clutching his stocking in a grip that looked far too tight for the thin material, breathing slowly - carefully slowly - with his eyes shut. Alex had practically no expression, mouth quirked in a smile that she thought could be mean, if it grew any, eyes devoid of emotion in a way she’d never seen. It was weird, how Reggie’s feelings were on his sleeve and Alex’s were tucked away behind an unsettling smile and unreadable eyes, when usually Reggie was the one with the too-bright smile, whilst Alex’s emotions bled through. 

“Thanks, Julie,” Reggie said quietly after a moment, voice raspy. “It means a lot.” 

“Oh.” Alex cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah. Um. They’re cute. Thanks.” 

The pair of them stood around awkwardly for a minute before handing them back to her and poofing out, Alex reaching for Reggie even before they were gone.

As soon as she was sure they wouldn’t be able to hear her, she turned on Luke. “What the fuck was that?” 

Luke winced. “Uh. Reg and ‘Lex have never done the normal Christmas thing. But, for, like, different reasons? Reg’s parents were always too busy fighting over shit to ever put too much effort into doing a good Christmas for him, so for him, the stocking is like… it’s a family thing. He’s just overwhelmed, really.”

“And Alex?” She pressed, entwining their fingers. “I’ve never seen him look that… I don’t even know.” 

He scrubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Alex and Christmas… they don’t mesh very well. His folks were super religious, so Christmas was always this big church event, not a holiday. Midnight mass, morning service, advent candles, everything. He’s always had a lot of issues with the good old Catholic self hatred, but Christmas for Lexi was just a concentrated three days of pure self loathing for a really long time. He’s just learning to not let himself do that.”

“Oh… should I… should I not have given him it?” She asked after a moment, guilt coursing through her.

“No, no, it’s fine. Jules, I promise, him and Reg have just gone to freak out for half an hour, possibly with Willie, because they give the best hugs, and then they’ll come back, and they’ll be okay,” he assured her, tucked a curl behind her ear. 

She nodded slowly, tilting her face into his hand. “How come you didn’t go with them?” 

Luke shrugged. “I’m not what they need right now. They’ll come to me when they want to talk about things. I can’t… I can’t just sit and dwell on things. I gotta  _ do  _ something. Write about it, talk about it, make it better, fix it  _ somehow.  _ If they stayed, or if I joined them, I’d just get anxious about being useless and needing to help, and it would stress them out.” 

“And that… that doesn’t bother you?” Julie checked, cradling his cheek with one hand. “You’re okay staying?” 

“Of course.” He nodded. “We’ve got a whole system. Alex is bad for when you need to be distracted, Reggie is bad for when you need to take action, and I’m bad for when you just need to be sad for a while.” 

“Huh. That’s… really smart.” She leant up to kiss his cheek, then pulled back slowly. “Wanna watch a film?” 

“Only if we can watch Rise of the Guardians,” Luke said immediately, as Julie had expected him to.

“Ugh, fine,” she teased, nudging him until he sat down so she could curl into his side.

——

When the film ended, Julie stood up, stretching up onto her tiptoes, then smiled down at Luke. “Wanna help me make hot chocolate?” 

Luke raised an eyebrow. “You need help to make hot chocolate? Isn’t it just… power in a cup?” 

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.” She grinned and gestured down at her penguin pyjamas. “Step one: Christmas pyjamas.”

He snapped his fingers and his jeans and hoodie were replaced by a reindeer sweater and selburose trousers. “Neat trick, huh?” He grinned at her impressed expression. “Alex figured it out.”

“How did-” Julie rolled her eyes fondly. “Willie did something adorable and Alex accidentally changed his outfit to something cuter, didn’t he?” 

“Bingo.” Luke offered his hand for a high five.

She slapped it, laughing when he laced their fingers together. “Step two: gather the Molinas.”

As if on cue, Reggie and Alex reappeared, Willie poofing in just a moment after them. Alex didn’t say anything, just swept Julie up in a bone crushing hug as soon as Luke had moved back, which he did almost instinctively. 

“You okay?” She asked quietly, wrapping her arms around him. 

“Yeah.” He rubbed a circle on her back, then pulled away a little. “I’m sorry, for - for running out. I just. I needed to… I needed to not-” he cut himself off and pulled Julie back in. “I love the stocking, and I’m really honoured you got me one, thank you.” 

“Hey, it’s okay.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “We’re putting Christmas jammies on and making hot chocolate, wanna join?”

He pulled away fully, moving back to grab Willie’s hand. “That sounds awesome, Jules.” 

She blinked, and they were wearing matching naughty and nice pyjamas, and her arms were full of Reggie, who lifted her up and spun her around. 

“Thank you for the stocking,” he whispered as he put her down. “I didn’t mean to seem sad about it, I promise. I was just - it was just too much, if that makes sense?” 

“Of course it does, silly,” Julie said, squeezing his arm as gently as she could. “Now get your pjs on while I go find my other brother, and dad.” 

——

“I’m still confused as to why we’re letting Reggie in the kitchen,” Alex complained for the millionth time, despite the fact that he was practically hanging off Reggie’s shoulders, since Willie was distracting Carlos from the possibilities of an open flame by asking him incredibly niche and complex questions about the barter economy he’d established at school. 

“Alex,” Julie started, stirring the cinnamon into the milk on the hob. “I love you like a brother, but seeing as your only contribution to the hot chocolate has been the baileys that I’m ninety percent sure you stole, you can shut the fuck up.” 

“Woah, language, mija,” Ray chided gently, but levelled a stern look at Alex. “And no theft from you, niño, please.” 

Alex held his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t, honest. I left the money in the till, and Willie adjusted the stock list.” 

“I knew you were my favourite.” Ray grinned, holding his hand out for the bottle. “So, shall we say a cup of this in the mix?”

“Sounds good to me,” Julie agreed, adding cocoa powder and a little milk to each mug and whisking until they were properly combined. 

Luke rifled through the cupboards, throwing the spices Julie asked for at Reggie, who miraculously caught all of them. 

“How are you doing that?” She asked, as Reggie caught the cinnamon Luke tossed at him with barely a glance. 

“We just got skills,” the pair of them said at the same time.

Alex snorted. “Bobby accidentally caught something I was trying to hit him in the face with without looking in seventh grade and three girls started vying for his attention because they thought it was amazing, so Bobby, Reg and Luke trained themselves until they could do it every time, so they could impress people.” 

“Did that… did that ever work?” Willie asked skeptically from the floor. “Ever?” 

“Well-” 

“No,” Alex cut Luke off. “Literally never. Except for the time Bobby caught a microphone just before it could hit this guy in the face without looking and they ended up dating for six months.” 

Julie laughed and let her dad finish heating the milk so she could pressed a kiss to Luke’s jaw. “I think it’s very impressive,” she promised, letting him tuck her into his side. 

“Do you, though?” Willie asked, eyebrows raised.

“Oh don’t give me that,” she protested. “You gave Alex heart eyes when he tripped over literal air and knocked over three rows of shelves full of baubles in Target last week.” 

“... you’re not wrong,” they admitted. “I guess I’ll let you have that one.” 

“It’s ready!” Ray called, laughing when everybody immediately gathered round, trying to shove each other out of the way. “You guys know the rules; take your hot chocolate, grab your stocking, we’ll vote on movie suggestions.” 

Carlos somehow managed to snatch the first mug, but didn’t immediately take his stocking. “Dad, I think it’s unfair that we’re voting when there are two couples. Alex and Willie, and Julie and Luke are obviously going to choose one between them and have two votes each.” 

Alex snorted. “Willie has horrendous taste in Christmas movies, they’re on their own.” 

“And Luke already picked a film that we watched earlier,” Julie added. “So he doesn’t get to suggest one at all.”

Willie crossed his arms over his chest, which was mainly funny because it momentarily distracted all three of her bandmates, but also because Willie was trying to be imposing whilst wearing green nice pyjamas and allowing Carlos to use him as a jungle gym. “The nightmare before Christmas is a  _ classic,  _ Alexander, you’re just uncultured.” 

“Hold up!” Ray held his hands up. “You don’t like the nightmare before Christmas?”

Alex shrugged, cradling his hot chocolate to his chest protectively. “It’s just not a Christmas film, it’s a Halloween film.” 

Reggie patted his arm gently. “Buddy, I don’t think you get to be an authority for what constitutes a Christmas film. The first time you watched one was 1994 in Bobby’s garage, and you could barely make yourself sit through it.” 

Instead of the snappy comment or silent poofing out that Julie had expected, Alex just rolled his eyes fondly and stole Reggie’s mug, holding it out of his reach.

“Give it back!” Reggie demanded, attempting to jump for it. “Just because you’re stupid and think it’s a Halloween move doesn’t mean you can be a dick about it!”

“I was allowed to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas when it came out, in October, might I add, therefore it can’t be a Christmas film,” Alex retorted, ignoring the slightly horrified look Ray shot him. 

“So…” Carlos interrupted. “How about we don’t watch a film? You guys will try and kill each other, but you can’t die. We could play a game? I got Carrie to buy me giant jenga last week as repayment for… uh… something.” 

Julie knew it was a lost cause the moment he’d finished saying it. All four ghosts lit up immediately. 

“Oh my god,  _ yes.”  _ Reggie breathed, turning big eyes on Alex, who relented and returned his mug. “I mean, you’re a fool, you’ve just played yourself, I will mercilessly destroy you, but this is gonna be so fun.” 

The four of them practically wrestled their way out of the room, Alex shoving Luke into the doorframe so he could get out first, Willie just slinging Reggie over their shoulder and carrying him through. 

Julie and Ray looked at Carlos, who was just sipping on his hot chocolate with a smug smile. “Ah… chaos… they’re going to kill each other.”

Ray looked to the ceiling like he was praying for strength, then poured an extra bit of baileys in his hot chocolate. “Carlos, you can’t have an anarchy phase until you’re at least fifteen, we’ve talked about this.” 

——

Julie was pretty sure she’d never understand what it was about hanging the stockings and making hot chocolate that was her favourite part of the Christmas season, but she knew it was probably something to do with her mom.

Even now, curled up on the couch with a mug that smelled of cinnamon and chocolate and a little bit of alcohol for the first time, watching her bandmates and Willie and Carlos fight on the living room floor over who had knocked the tower over, Luke looking about ready to launch himself at Reggie, she knew that somewhere, her mom was watching over them. 

Her dad nudged her gently and held an arm out to her, kissing her hair when she snuggled into his side. “Merry Christmas, mija,” he whispered, wincing when Reggie attempted to throttle Alex. “Mom would be proud of you, for how far you’ve come since last year.”

Julie took another sip of hot chocolate and smiled up at him. “I think she’d be proud of all of us.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, please comment and kudos to let me know if you did, and check out all the other awesome stuff being done for the holiday event on tumblr!


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